Grade Level:

Traditional Territory:

In June 1967, Norway House Indian Residential School of Manitoba closed its doors after a somewhat questionable past. In 1954, when Florence Kaefer was just nineteen, she accepted a job as a teacher at Norway House. Unaware of the difficult conditions the students were enduring, Florence and her fellow teachers nurtured a school full of lonely and homesick young children. After a few years, Florence moved to Vancouver Island with her new husband where she continued to teach, thinking often of the children of Norway House.

Many years later, after the death of her husband, Florence unexpectedly reconnected with one of her Norway House students, Edward Gamblin. Edward had been only five when he was brought to Norway House and Florence remembered him as a shy and polite young boy. Leaving the school at sixteen, Edward faced some challenges in a world that was both hostile and unfamiliar to him. But Edward found success and solace in his career as a musician, writing songs about the many political issues facing Aboriginal people in Canada. On a trip to Manitoba, Florence discovered Edward's music. She was captivated by his voice, but shocked to hear him singing about the abuse he and the other children had been subjected to at Norway House.

Motivated to apologize on behalf of the school and her colleagues, Florence contacted Edward. "Yes, I remember you and I accept your apology," Edward told her. "Reconciliation will not be one grand, finite act. It will be a multitude of small acts and gestures played out between individuals." The story of their personal reconciliation is both heartfelt and heartbreaking as Edward begins to share his painful truths with his family, Florence and the media. Three years after Edward's death in in 2010, Florence has continued to advocate for truth and reconciliation. BACK TO THE RED ROAD is more than one man's story: it is the story of our nation and how healing can begin, one friendship, one apology at a time.

Judge John Reilly, now retired, was the youngest judge ever appointed to the Provincial Court of Alberta. For most of his 33 years on the bench he was the circuit judge for the Stoney Indian Reserve at Morley, Alberta.

During his career he became interested in aboriginal justice and saw the failure of the “white” legal system to do justice for aboriginal people, the harm caused to them by Canadian colonialism, and the failure of all levels of government, including tribal government, to alleviate their suffering and deal with the conflicting natures of European-style law and Indigenous tradition and circumstance.

As a result of these realizations, Judge Reilly vowed to improve the delivery of justice to the aboriginal people in his community and used his perceived power as a jurist to make changes to improve the lives of the people in his jurisdiction. Along the way, he came into direct conflict with Canadian judicial administration and various questionable leaders among the echelons of both Canadian and First Nation governments.

John Reilly’s first book, Bad Medicine: A Judge’s Struggle for Justice in a First Nations Community, was a Canadian bestseller that sparked controversy and elicited praise nationwide for his honest portrayal of First Nations tribal corruption. Bad Judgment details Reilly’s battle with the Canadian justice system and the difficulties he faced trying to adapt Eurocentric Canadian law for the benefit of First Nations people across the country.

Early in his career, Judge John Reilly did everything by the book. His jurisdiction included a First Nations community plagued by suicide, addiction, poverty, violence and corruption. He steadily handed out prison sentences with little regard for long-term consequences and even less knowledge as to why crime was so rampant on the reserve in the first place.

In an unprecedented move that pitted him against his superiors, the legal system he was part of, and one of Canada's best-known Indian chiefs, the Reverend Dr. Chief John Snow, Judge Reilly ordered an investigation into the tragic and corrupt conditions on the reserve. A flurry of media attention ensued. Some labelled him a racist; others thought he should be removed from his post, claiming he had lost his objectivity. But many on the Stoney Reserve hailed him a hero as he attempted to uncover the dark challenges and difficult history many First Nations communities face.

At a time when government is proposing new tough on crime legislation, Judge Reilly provides an enlightening and timely perspective. He shows us why harsher punishments for offenders don't necessarily make our societies safer, why the white justice system is failing First Nations communities, why jail time is not the cure-all answer some think it to be, and how corruption continues to plague tribal leadership.

In this important book, a pediatric occupational therapist and founder of TimberNook shows how outdoor play and unstructured freedom of movement are vital for children's cognitive development and growth, and offers tons of fun, engaging ways to help ensure that kids grow into healthy, balanced, and resilient adults.

Today's kids have adopted sedentary lifestyles filled with television, video games, and computer screens. But more and more, studies show that children need "rough and tumble" outdoor play in order to develop their sensory, motor, and executive functions. Disturbingly, a lack of movement has been shown to lead to a number of health and cognitive difficulties, such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), emotion regulation and sensory processing issues, and aggressiveness at school recess break. So, how can you ensure your child is fully engaging their body, mind, and all of their senses?

Using the same philosophy that lies at the heart of her popular TimberNook program-that nature is the ultimate sensory experience, and that psychological and physical health improves for children when they spend time outside on a regular basis-author Angela Hanscom offers several strategies to help your child thrive, even if you live in an urban environment.

Today it is rare to find children rolling down hills, climbing trees, or spinning in circles just for fun. We've taken away merry-go-rounds, shortened the length of swings, and done away with teeter-totters to keep children safe. Children have fewer opportunities for unstructured outdoor play than ever before, and recess times at school are shrinking due to demanding educational environments.

With this book, you'll discover little things you can do anytime, anywhere to help your kids achieve the movement they need to be happy and healthy in mind, body, and spirit.

The definitive reference to indigenous peoples' watercraft around the world.

Tappan Adney (1868-1950) was an artist, writer, ethnographer, historian and modelmaker of unparalleled ability. He tirelessly documented the cultures and languages of vanishing native cultures. His most enduring legacy is the extraordinary 110 birchbark canoe models he handbuilt to exacting standards. The models, now held at The Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Virginia, were built to ensure future canoe builders had exact reproductions for reference.

These historically accurate, 1:5 scale models were meticulously researched, and traditionally constructed using the identical materials of the originals. Many are based on canoes that were the last example of their type. Before such a canoe disintegrated, Adney measured and recorded its dimensions, consulted with native builders and studied historical photographs and paintings.

Each canoe model is beautifully photographed and accompanied by captions that outline the craft's origins, uses and technical details. Adney's amazing technical drawings for the models are also included.

This book focuses on events before and after the International Non-Governmental Organization Conference on Discrimination Against Indigenous Populations in the Americas that was held in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1977. Contributions by Chief Oren Lyons, John Mohawk, and José Barreiro document the struggle for self-determination and a new era of possibility for Native nations. Position papers, including “The Haudenosaunee Address to the Western World,” present an insightful view of spiritual traditions going back thousands of years.

In a compelling and impassioned voice, Basic Call to Consciousness speaks for the basic rights of humankind and all our relations.

“The UN provides a forum to finally do away with the effects of the racist ‘Doctrine of Discovery’ foisted upon generations of Native peoples and secure a brighter future for the 300 million or so Indigenous peoples of the world.”

How to teach all the skills beginning writers need--from alphabet recognition and spelling to strategies for self-editing and building coherent text

How to teach all the skills beginning writers need - from alphabet recognition and spelling to strategies for self-editing and building coherent text. Offers teachers strategies for helping children grasp the pencil, print legibly, spell, punctuate, and create sentences that contain complete thoughts and link together logically. Includes background information, lesson ideas, and suggestions for student review, extensions, and modifications that lead to best practices in developing writing consistency.

In 1967, the Mushuau Innu — the Aboriginal people of Labrador — were resettled on Davis Inlet by the Canadian government. Originally a land-based people, this move to the coast created cultural, economic and spiritual upheaval, and Davis Inlet became synonymous with shocking substance abuse and suicide rates. In Bathtubs but No Water, Gerry Steele offers the reader a participant observer’s perspective on Davis Inlet. An employee of the federal government working with the Mushuau Innu since 1993, Steele explores their oral history of the resettlement process, substance abuse and deaths, and argues that these problems are a direct result of the government’s lack of respect for Aboriginal peoples. In 1992, the Innu tried to regain responsibility for their future, focusing on the traditions and strengths of their own community, but government bureaucracy would not support this partnership. Steele urges the government to engage in respectful partnerships with Aboriginal communities in order to achieve positive change.

Today beaded jewelry such as bracelets, necklaces, and earrings are still extremely popular, especially those made in a Native American style. Using Beaded Earrings, readers can learn a craft that has delighted humankind for generations. This simple, concise guide contains easy-to-read, step-by-step instructions to teach techniques to both beginners and beading experts. Readers are taught twelve basic patterns that can be combined to make more than thirty-five different kinds of earrings. Instructions are also included on how to create one-of-a-kind designs. Beaded Earrings includes page after page of full-color illustrations that show how to make many different styles of traditional Native American earrings, including basic dangle variations, as well as Brick Stitch, Gourd Stitch and Bugle Bead. The techniques learned here can be applied to necklaces and other types of jewelry, as well. Instructions come complete with recommendations on the types and amount of beads and supplies to purchase and a list of practical suggestions to help readers avoid common frustrating errors.

This book is in a class by itself. Featured are dozens of full-color photos of both Indian and in-Indian made beadwork from museums, collections and today's marketplace. Instructions are accompanied by large, highly detailed, step-by-step color photos and illustrations. Four styles of beadwork are covered: loom, two needle applique, lazy stitch, and the gourd (peyote) stitch. Presenting both basic and advanced techniques, the author also includes detailed instructions on how to make and bead moccasins.

Raw and honest, Bearskin Diary gives voice to a generation of First Nations women who have always been silenced, at a time when movements like Idle No More call for a national inquiry into the missing and murdered Aboriginal women. Carol Daniels adds an important perspective to the Canadian literary landscape.

Taken from the arms of her mother as soon as she was born, Sandy was only one of over twenty thousand Aboriginal children scooped up by the federal government between the 1960s and 1980s. Sandy was adopted by a Ukrainian family and grew up as the only First Nations child in a town of white people. Ostracized by everyone around her and tired of being different, at the early age of five she tried to scrub the brown off her skin. But she was never sent back into the foster system, and for that she considers herself lucky.

From this tragic period in her personal life and in Canadian history, Sandy does not emerge unscathed, but she emerges strong--finding her way by embracing the First Nations culture that the Sixties Scoop had tried to deny. Those very roots allow Sandy to overcome the discriminations that she suffers every day from her co-workers, from strangers and sometimes even from herself.

In Beautiful Razor, Al Hunter explores the span between the sensual and the profane; the distance of which can sometimes be vast or on the razor's edge. This much awaited collection is the third poetry book written by the former Rainy River First Nations Chief, along with Spirit Horses and The Recklessness of Love.

In the 240 years from contact to the present, British Columbia's population has experienced transformations of a kind and magnitude witnessed nowhere else in North America. The introduction of exotic diseases changed the human landscape almost overnight, as did gold rushes, industrialization, two world wars, a baby boom, late twentieth-century immigration from Asia, and a grey wave.

Becoming British Columbia is the first comprehensive, demographic history of this province. Investigating critical moments in the demographic record and linking demographic patterns to larger social and political questions, it shows how biology, politics, and history conspire with sex, death, and migration to create a particular kind of society. John Belshaw overturns the widespread tendency to associate population growth with progress by examining how the province's Aboriginal population of as much as half a million was reduced by disease to fewer than 30,000 people in less than a century. He reveals that the province has a long tradition of thinking and acting vigorously in ways meant to control and shape biological communities of humans, and suggests that imperialism, race, class, and gender have historically situated population issues at the center of public consciousness in British Columbia.

Becoming British Columbia demystifies demographics in an accessible yet scholarly and provocative way. It will appeal to scholars and students in history, sociology, geography, and Canadian Studies, as well as to general readers interested in BC history.

Aboriginal rights do not belong to the broader category of universal human rights because they are grounded in the particular practices of aboriginal people. So argues Peter Kulchyski in this provocative book from the front lines of indigenous people’s struggles to defend their culture from the ongoing conquest of their traditional lands. Kulchyski shows that some differences are more different than others, and he draws a border between bush culture and mall culture, between indigenous people’s mode of production and the totalizing push of state-led capitalism.

Aboriginal Rights Are Not Human Rights provides much needed conceptual and historical analysis of aboriginal and treaty rights in Canada, and offers concrete suggestions to transform the current policy paradigm into one that supports and invigorates indigenous cultures in a contemporary context.

Good science starts with a question. This book offers a look into real classrooms where teachers use inquiry science to engage students in seeking answers the same ways real scientists do — they design experiments, make predictions, observe and describe, offer and test explanations, and share their conjectures with others. This practical book shows teachers how to: